


Gravity Rises: Vacation Vassalage [Episode One]

by BrightnessWings19



Series: Gravity Rises Season One [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gravity Rises, Episode One, Gen, Sorophora, slightly different interpretation of Gravity Rises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-11 00:03:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7866937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightnessWings19/pseuds/BrightnessWings19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mabel and Dipper Pines arrive at the small town of Gravity Rises to spend the winter with their great uncle. Mabel finds a strange book in the forest with a familiar symbol on the front. Meanwhile, Dipper meets a girl, but she's not what she seems...</p><p>[Parallel to: Tourist Trapped]</p><p>~~~~~Series Blurb~~~~~</p><p>Things That Were Not on Mabel Pines' Bucket List:<br/>  1) Getting shipped up to Gravity Rises for the winter with her hyperactive twin brother<br/>  2) Working for a grumpy, poly-dactylic Great Uncle<br/>  3) Finding an old journal hidden in the forest (that six-fingered hand on the front is suspiciously familiar)<br/>  4) Being attacked by a psychotic showgirl<br/>  5) Discovering magical creatures<br/>  6) Fighting a dream demon in someone's mind<br/>  7) Whatever the heck is going on with that Northwest kid (totally-not-cute jerk)<br/>Well, this should make for an interesting winter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> Gravity Rises AU originally created by Sorophora. While I did not create these characters, I have put some of my own details and twists into this series and therefore consider this work (but not the AU) my own.
> 
> Work originally posted on Wattpad.
> 
> When commenting on this work, please do not swear.

So much _snow._

Mabel Pines stared out the window of the softly rumbling bus, captivated by just how _white_ the world was up here in the North. She wasn’t really looking forward to the cold, but they _never_ got this much snow back in California. Maybe this winter break could be exciting after all.

Her stomach seized up with nerves at this thought. She wasn’t even sure what she was nervous about, really. Meeting her elusive great uncle? Being away from her parents? Freezing to death in all this snow?

“Hey, Mabes, wanna play Bus Seat Treasure Hunt?”

Mabel started, her fingers brushing against the cold metal of the bus window. Her brother Dipper was lifting up the cushion next to him with a ridiculous grin on his face, gesturing at whatever horrors lay beneath the padded seating.

“I-I dunno, Dipper,” Mabel said. She did like playing Bus Seat Treasure Hunt with her twin, but her stomach was wringing itself out like a wet rag, and she wasn’t really in the mood.

“Nervous?” Dipper asked, setting the cushion back down—but not before pocketing a foreign-looking coin.

Mabel nodded. “I bet you’re not.” Her brother never got nervous; he was excited about everything.

Dipper shrugged. “A little bit. But whatever happens I know it’s gonna be _awesome_. A whole winter break with Great Uncle Stanford! No Mom and Dad to tell us what not to do, and real _snow!_ ”

See? “I dunno, Stanford could be really strict.”

“Nah,” Dipper said with a shake of his head. “I’ve heard he’s really elusive and doesn’t really care, what with all his research. That’s why Mom and Dad gave us such a lay-down before we left. Hey, how much longer, do you think?”

Mabel shrugged. “Half an hour, maybe. What do you mean ‘all his research’?”

“Weren’t you listening?”

No, she probably hadn’t been. She shook her head slowly.

“Huh, no wonder you didn’t act excited. Yeah, Great Uncle Stanford is apparently some big-shot researcher. He puts everything he finds in that museum Dad told us about.”

“What kind of research?” Mabel asked, intrigued. She hardly stopped to wonder how she’d missed that piece of information; she had a reputation for being “scatter-brained.” It wasn’t that she couldn’t focus, it’s that she was focusing on something that was going on entirely in her head.

“Anything weird, I think. Supernatural stuff?”

Mabel’s eyes lit up. “Has he found anything?”

Dipper rolled his eyes. “Don’t interrogate me, Mabel, I don’t know. Heck, Mom and Dad barely know. They’re still shocked he agreed to let us come.”

“Right.” Mabel turned to look out the window again, her nervousness tripling, but not feeling as…negative as before. If Great Uncle Ford really had discovered the supernatural…That would be _so amazing._

“Mabel…This bus seat isn’t gonna treasure hunt itself.” He accented his words with a nudge to her side.

Mabel broke out into a tentative grin. “Okay, okay. I bet I can find a cooler-shaped stain than you.”

“You’re on!”


	2. Part Two

The bus station was empty.

“Uh, Mabel? Wasn’t Great Uncle Stanford supposed to be here to pick us up?”

She certainly thought so.

“You kids okay?” The bus driver called, a gopher-like man with a sloped forehead.

“Y-yeah,” Mabel replied, eyes scanning the empty stop. “He should be here soon…”

“I’d stay and wait with you, but I have a strict schedule,” the bus driver said apologetically. With a wave, he closed his doors and drove off.

Silence.

Mabel shivered, pulling her orange jacket around herself and sitting on a nearby metal bench, easing herself slowly onto it.

Dipper plopped down next to his twin. “Did you see that guy’s name tag? It said ‘Soos.’ Isn’t that a weird name? Soooos.” He drew the word out and laughed at its sound. “But hey, I guess it would be cool to have a palindrome for a name.”

Mabel had a large vocabulary because it came naturally to her. Dipper had a large vocabulary because he liked the sounds of new words and—although he’d never admit it to Mabel—couldn’t stand it when his sister sounded smarter than he.

Which happened a lot.

Mabel wasn’t paying much attention to her brother, though; she was systematically looking through her environment, taking in the way the snow rested on a wayward bundle of pine trees, the log-shaped diner in the distance where a sign proclaimed, “We Have Food!” and the way cars ambled down the street like they had not a care in the world. A billboard to their right read, “Welcome to Gravity Rises, home of the biggest Rockies in the state!” Sure enough, Mabel felt surrounded by the looming mountains in the distance that sheltered the small valley town.

“Where do you think Stanford is?” Dipper asked. Before Mabel could answer he was rocketing off with another question. “Hey, do you want to go exploring? I bet we could find the museum on our own!”

Mabel hesitated. Usually she loved to go exploring, and there was no way she wouldn’t be out there in the woods doing so before winter break was up. But if Stanford really was on his way, they should stay put until he got there, right?

“Let’s wait, Dipper,” she said decisively. If they waited so long they were about to freeze, then, she thought, they should go looking for the museum themselves.

No sooner than she said it, however, a long red car came hurtling around the corner, going twice as fast as the other cars around it. It skidded to a stop, the nose coming startlingly close to Dipper and Mabel’s park bench. The snowy dust  cleared around a license plate that read STNLYMBL, and the driver’s door opened.

“Robbie, how many times have I told you to _drive carefully!_ ” A grizzled voice was shouting.

The driver laughed as he got out. “Sorry, Mr. Pines,” he said in a tone that hardly sounded apologetic. “Hey, you the Pines twins?”

It took Mabel a moment to realize he was talking to her. The boy standing in front of her had to be at least sixteen years old, and scored an instant 8 out of 10 on Brittney Barnes’ Hotness Scale—a scale Mabel never thought she’d find herself using.

“That’s us!” Dipper replied, bouncing to his feet. “I’m Dipper, and the girl staring at you like she’s just seen Bigfoot is Mabel.”

Mabel’s eyes widened, and she jumped to her feet. “I-I—no, I wasn’t—Dipper!” Her face flushed, she turned meekly back to Robbie. “S-sorry.”

Robbie laughed. “You’re fine, kid. Hey, Mr. Pines, come meet your relatives!”

The passenger door opened with a grumble, and Stanford stepped out of the car. Mabel found herself staring again as she took in the sight of her great uncle, frowning down at them through square-shaped glasses. A streak of silver ran through neatly trimmed grey hair, and he wore a tan trench-coat that made him look like he went on adventures every other day. His expression, however, did not match that demeanor.

He coughed. “Um, greetings.”

Robbie rolled his eyes. “Say _hi_ , Mr. Pines.”

“Hi!” Dipper said for him. “I’m Dipper! I get the name from my birthmark, see?” He pushed up his hair to show the Little Dipper birthmark plastered onto his forehead and rotated so both Robbie and Stanford could see. “Plus my real name is _stupid_. Dipper is much better, don’t you think? Hey, Great Uncle Stanford, is there anything shorter we could call you? Like—”

“It’s Ford.” He held up a hand to stop the flow of words. “You can call me Ford.”

“Oh, okay, I— _WOAH!_ ”

Mabel had noticed it too. But, as always, her brother was the one to mention it. Loudly.

“You have _six fingers!_ ”

For the first time, a small smile found its way onto Ford’s aged face. “Yes, yes I do.” He held out his hand to shake Dipper’s.

Dipper giggled. “A six-fingered handshake! It’s a full finger friendlier than normal!”

“I guess I’d never thought about it that way,” Ford replied. He looked down at Mabel. “And what about you? Mabel, right?”

“Y-yeah,” Mabel stammered. _Talk like a normal person, Mabel!_ “C-can we get out of the cold?”

_What made you say that?!_

Ford blinked. “O-oh, sure. Pile on in, kids. Robbie can help you with your stuff.”

“But Mr. Pines can’t,” Robbie finished sarcastically. He grinned at Dipper and took a couple bags.

Mabel, Dipper, and Robbie were halfway through getting everything into the trunk of the car when Dipper suddenly yelled, “ _Grunkle!_ ” startling Mabel halfway out of her skin.

Dipper dropped the bag he was holding into the trunk and ran around the car to where Ford was sitting, door open, in shotgun. “Can we call you Grunkle? Short for Great Uncle? Grunkle Ford!”

“Uh, sure,” Ford replied slowly.

Behind the car and next to Mabel, Robbie chuckled. “Grunkle. That’s a good idea.”

“Yeah,” Mabel agreed. It made him seem more like family and less like the strange, six-fingered recluse in the woods.

A few minutes later they’d all piled in the car and were on their way to the Mystery Museum. Dipper was talking the whole way.

“So how come our parents didn’t say you had six fingers? Did they not know or did they want it to be a surprise? Hey, how do we know if a place called ‘the Mystery Museum’ is boring or not? Because mysteries are exciting, but museums are pretty boring. Hey, what’s up with the name Gravity Rises, anyway? It sounds like a paradox. You’d think it’d be called Gravity Heights since it’s named for its mountains, but I guess Gravity Rises sounds better. It makes it sound magical or something. Hey, Robbie, you’re not a long-lost cousin of ours or anything, are you?”

Robbie laughed. “Nope, just an employee of the Mystery Museum. And occasionally Mr. Pines’ chaperone. You talk a lot, kid.”

Some people might take offense to a statement like that, but Dipper had long since learned to take it as a compliment. “Yeah. It makes up for Mabel not saying anything.”

“I talk!” Mabel exclaimed. “H-he’s just better at it,” she mumbled, blushing from her outburst.

Plus she’d kinda been focused on the tattoos lacing Robbie’s arms as he drove. The rolled-up sleeves on his red flannel shirt revealed all sorts of black patterns spiraling around his wrists and forearms.

It didn’t take long to get to the Mystery Museum, and Dipper’s stream of words cut off as he threw open the car door to get a good look at their new surroundings. “Woah! This place is huge!”

Robbie turned the car off, pulled out the key, opened the door, and got out in one fluid movement. “Mr. Pines has his own complex of labs back there, plus the ‘living quarters.’” He made quotation marks with his fingers as he said that last part.

“You have your own lab?” Mabel asked excitedly as Ford eased himself out of the car. “What do you do back there?”

Ford glanced down at her, an amused expression on his face. “I can show you once you get settled. Everybody grab some bags!”

They made for a bulky procession, suitcases rolling on the cement and backpacks looped around arms. Robbie ended up with the most, Ford with the least.

“You guys have a lot of luggage for two twelve-year-olds,” Robbie pointed out. His voice didn’t sound demeaning or critical, however.

“We’re thirteen, actually,” Dipper replied cheerfully. “And yeah, our parents made sure we had lots of winter gear. We’re not used to this whole snow thing. Does it snow this much every year? I bet you guys make awesome snow forts!”

“Sometimes,” Robbie agreed. Mabel marveled at how laidback the teenager seemed, especially in the face of the Dipper Dump-truck.

“I’m afraid I don’t have much space for guests,” Ford said, “so you two are up in the attic.”

“ _Sweet!_ ” Dipper exclaimed, passing by Robbie to run up the stairs. “Does it have one of those cool sloped rooves? Mabel, I bet there are tons of spiders! Come on!”

Mabel shook her head. “He’ll have a new collection by the time he gets home.”

“Collection?” Robbie asked.

Mabel nodded. “Mom and Dad made him let all his spiders go before he came, which he does every couple months. He’ll probably make a new one here.”

“He’s in the right place if he’s a collector,” Ford said, nudging a suitcase that had been slipping from Mabel’s grasp. “And he said museums are boring?”

“Well, if they’re not about cool things like spiders.”

Ford laughed, a barking sound that startled Mabel. “I have much cooler things than spiders.”

They reached the top of the stairs and pushed everything into the attic room. Mabel craned her neck to look at the sloped ceiling, which did indeed have spider webs, and—

“ _Mabel, BATS!_ ”

At Dipper’s screech, the small family of bats that had been curled up on the rafters fell towards the floor, catching themselves with their wings and swooping around the room.

Mabel laughed as she ducked, watching the bats fly. They were so _beautiful._

“I thought I’d gotten rid of those!” Ford exclaimed, swinging a backpack through the air to ward them off. “Sorry, kids. Robbie, go open the window!”

“Are you kidding me? They’re _awesome!_ ” Dipper yelled, grinning as he watched the swarm. “We should let them stay! I don’t mind!”

Mabel wasn’t sure she wanted to room with a family of bats, but she did like watching them. She took a mental picture of her brother, reaching out into the storm of wings, laughing.

“Trust me, they’ll be better off in an empty attic somewhere. There are plenty in this town.” Ford’s words were accented with grunts as he chased the bats through the window. All but one had gone; the small survivor hid itself in a crevice near the bed Dipper had claimed as his own.

“Hey, little guy!” Dipper said, slowly reaching out.

“Dipper, don’t touch it!” Mabel said. “Diseases!”

It was a continuous battle between the twins. They both loved all sorts of creatures, but Dipper was far more hands-on than Mabel, who had no desire to contract rabies, thank you very much.

The bat startled at Dipper’s approach and flew off with a screech, following his family out the window. Robbie shut it as soon as the little guy disappeared. “Any more catastrophes or can I get back to the checkout counter? Melody can’t run this place by herself.”

Ford inclined his head towards the teenager. “We’ll leave you two alone to get settled,” he said to the twins. He gestured to Robbie, and the two left, shutting the door softy behind them.

Silence.

Well, for a moment.

“Isn’t this awesome, Mabel?! Hey, I hope you don’t mind that I took the bed on this side. They both look the same to me except this one has a _wicked_ spider web next to it.”

“I don’t mind,” Mabel said. She was one of the few people who could get a word in edgewise when faced with her brother. She brought her suitcases over to the foot of her bed one by one, pulling out her sketchbook.

“Aww, Mabel, don’t do something as boring as _drawing_. We just got here! Don’t you want to explore?”

“I have a memory,” Mabel said simply, pulling her blanket out of a suitcase and spreading it on the bed to sit on. She wasn’t taking any chances until she verified that these sheets had been washed sometime in the past year.

“Ooh, is it of me?”

So many of them were.

Dipper looked like he wanted to come over and watch, but he knew the rules. No looking until Mabel proclaimed a drawing perfect.

Mabel pulled out her pencil case and started sketching. Unpacking could wait until later.

“There’s a closet over here,” Dipper said as he explored the room. “Do you want any space in it?”

“Not much,” Mabel said, not taking her eyes off her sketchpad. “You can have it for your sneakers.”

“Sweet!” Dipper had the most extensive shoe collection Mabel had ever seen, with all sorts of tennis shoes and converse. He’d managed to convince his parents to drag almost all of them up to Gravity Rises with them. He claimed he would wear all of them, which wasn’t exactly a lie. He might wear the same pair of shorts for _way_ too long, but you would never ever catch Dipper wearing the same shoes two days in a row.

By the time Mabel was putting the finishing touches on her drawing, Dipper was flopping back onto his bed, suitcases unpacked and everything put away either in the closet or a moldy-looking dresser by his bed. Dipper was much more organized than Mabel; she’d been planning on living out of her suitcases for most of the trip.

“You done yet?” he asked, hanging upside down off the bed. “This is much more fun with bunk beds, you know. That would be cool if we had a bunk bed!”

“No it wouldn’t,” Mabel said distractedly. She had some bad memories involving bunk beds.

“Unless you’re almost done I’m gonna go explore downstairs.”

“I’m almost done.”

She put the finishing touches on the drawing and sat back to admire it. Her brother stood in the focal point of the picture, his laugh captured in a single facial expression. A wing was brushing against his hand as the bats flew around him, the membrane of their wings visible in the light from the window. All of this was captured in shades of charcoal, grey shadows falling on the depicted floor.

“Alright. You can come see.”

Dipper rocketed over, somehow getting from his upside-down position on the bed across the room in two seconds without hitting his skull on the floor. “Woah, that’s awesome!” he exclaimed. He always loved her drawings, but he seemed particularly excited about  this one. “That’s totally a keeper.” He was referring to her collection of caricatures, a portfolio Mabel kept of all the people she sketched. Lots of them were of Dipper or her parents, but she also snuck sketches of strangers that looked interesting or that sat in unique positions.

“Okay can we go explore now?” Dipper burst out. He bounced on the bed with all his excess energy.

Mabel carefully set the picture on the bedside table so it wouldn’t smudge. “Alright,” she said, “let’s go explore!”


	3. Part Three

The Mystery Museum was in full swing. Robbie Corduroy ran the cash register for entry fees that doubled as the one for the gift shop while Melody Ramirez, the cleaning woman and tour guide, led awestruck tourists through displays of all sorts of animal corpses and supernatural evidence. Mabel had spent her first few days at the Mystery Museum pestering Ford about each and every exhibit until he finally took her aside and admitted, “Most of these displays are fake, Mabel. I learned a long time ago that people prefer the fantasy over what I really find out there.” When Mabel asked what he “really found,” he wouldn’t answer.

What Mabel and Dipper hadn’t been told before being shipped off to Gravity Rises was that they were expected to work for Grunkle Ford at the Mystery Museum like an employee, except unpaid. Ford gruffly explained that he expected people to earn their keep around here, and that the twins didn’t have to agree since their parents had already agreed for them, so get busy.

Mabel didn’t really mind cleaning windows or displays. It gave her time to think. She thought she would love all the little odd jobs outside and around the Museum—it was surrounded on three sides by thick woods, the perfect place to explore—but the weather was always cold, the forest had an eerie feel, and she found herself dreading those assignments.

“Look alive, people! I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest.”

At least, that’s what Mabel heard. What Ford actually said was, “Who’s open to go hang up some signs by that road heading through the forest?”

“Not it!” Dipper called.

“Not it!” Mabel echoed hurriedly.

“Robbie?”

Robbie was lounging at the checkout counter reading a magazine. “There’s a tour group that’s almost done; they’ll be swarming the gift shop soon,” he said, not seeming overly concerned. He flipped a page in his magazine and then continued, “And Melody’s leading the group so she can’t do it.”

“Sorry, Mabel, you’re it,” Ford said, not sounding sorry at all. He dropped his bundle of signs into her arms.

“But Grunkle Ford! I-I feel like I’m being watched in those woods.”

“You probably are,” Ford said gruffly, “but keep your nose where it belongs and you won’t die. Now get out there.”

Mabel sighed. It was no use arguing with Ford. She’d gotten her expectations up too high; he wasn’t some exciting adventurer so much as a grumpy old man immersed in secretive studies. She hitched the signs up under her arm and set out.

The woods _were_ beautiful. The untouched snow glistened on pine branches that drooped towards the whitewashed forest floor. Having snow on the ground to bounce back the light made it easier to venture deeper and deeper where the sun had an harder time reaching the ground. Still, it grew darker and darker until Mabel and her signs almost missed the road by which she was supposed to be hanging them.

She sighed and began her task.

Three signs in and nothing unusual had happened. Mabel wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed. She didn’t remember being nervous about anything happening in the first—

_Clank._

Mabel nearly jumped out of her skin, dropping her hammer and nail into the snow. Wood was _not_ supposed to make that sound.

Once her heart had slowed down enough that she could hear again, she carefully bent over and picked up her hammer, tapping it tentatively on the wood.

 _Clank_.

Mabel reached her hand out.

It was metal.

A metal tree, painted to look like wood! If Dipper was here, he’d about die with excitement. Mabel felt herself getting excited, but tried to push down the feelings in case there wasn’t anything in there. Or worse, if there was something scary or disgusting.

Curiosity got the better of her, and she pried the metal door open.

It made the most horrendous rusty-metal noise, and Mabel winced, but kept pulling. Cobwebs snapped soundlessly as the door opened for the first time in who knew how long. On second thought, maybe it was a good thing Dipper wasn’t here; his mere presence would probably triple the chances of spiders crawling over her hand.

Mabel shifted so that a shaft of afternoon sunlight fell into the now-revealed crevice. A small, old-fashioned box with two levers or switches sat innocently inside, not a spider in sight. Mabel tentatively reached her hand in and flicked at a switch.

Nothing happened.

After flicking it a few times, Mabel lost interest and tried pulling the lever next to it.

It didn’t move. Of course not.

She pushed harder, straining a bit, and managed to pull through the rust and maneuver the lever to the bottom of its track.

_Creeeeak._

Mabel whipped around at the metallic sound. Snow fell as a hole in the ground slid open, a yard or so from the “tree” Mabel was standing next to.

“What the…?”

Mabel made her way over to the new hole, peering down into it. The patch of ground had been relatively sheltered from snow underneath a tree, and so only a bit of the fluffy white stuff had fallen around the edges. The snow surrounded a large, rectangular object laying in the hole. Mabel looked closer.

A book?

Checking around for people watching, Mabel reached in to pick it up, carrying it over to a log that sat in a patch of sunlight. She blew on the cover and then flinched, trying not to inhale the cloud of dust and who-knew-what-else that flew off from the book.

A simple golden engraving of a hand sat in the center of a maroon-colored cover, a bold 3 drawn over the palm. Gilded edges of the rough cover shone in the sun. Mabel stared at its simplistic beauty for a few moments before carefully opening it.

“’It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Rises, Oregon,’” she read out loud from the first page. “What is all this?” She murmured to herself as she flipped through the pages. It seemed to be all handwritten, like a journal. She landed on a page with a glaring “TRUST NO ONE” scribbled on it as if the writer had gone over it over and over with a soft charcoal pencil. “’Unfortunately,’” Mabel read, “’I have found far too much evidence for this statement. If there’s one warning I can give to anyone pursuing this dangerous line of work, it would be this: in Gravity Rises there is no one you can trust.’” Mabel stared at the words for a moment before slowly closing the Journal. “No one you can trust…” she whispered, looking around once more at the dark woods and suppressing a shiver. What had she just found?

Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes landed once again on the cover of the Journal.

The hand on the front had six fingers.

“Six fingers,” she breathed, running her fingers over the engraving. Just like Grunkle Ford. Could this be…?

“HALLO!”

Mabel screamed and scrambled away from the log, heart pounding.

“Woah, Mabes, it’s just me.”

Dipper had jumped up from behind the log, his grin fading to a look of concern.

“S-sorry. Did you _follow_ me out here?”

Dipper plopped down on the log. “Well you were taking forever, so I came out to find you in case you found something awesome and somehow _forgot_ to come get your favorite twin brother to see it. You do promise—hey, what’s that?”

Mabel’s eyes flicked from her brother to the Journal, and she immediately stuck it behind her back. “Uh, i-it’s nothing!”

Dipper’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Mabes, what do you have there? Hey, why’s there a hole in the ground? And is that tree…open?”

Mabel knew there was no keeping things from her brother. She briefly recapped the events of the past few minutes. “And this was in it,” she said, displaying the Journal. “It’s like a journal or something.”

“Woah, that looks really cool. And—HEY! THAT HAND HAS SIX FINGERS!”

Mabel nodded. “Do you think that means it’s Ford’s? Why would it be out here then?”

“I dunno, let’s go ask him!”

Mabel bit her lip. “I-I dunno, Dipper. He’ll probably just take it away without even telling us what it is. He disappears to do ‘research’ all day and then won’t even tell us what he’s doing.” Now that the ball was rolling, all her frustrations against Stanford were pouring out. “I just—I want to have something exciting for me without him taking it away. I mean, look at this!” She sat down on the log next to Dipper and opened the Journal. It fell open to a random page, on which lay a large, detailed drawing of what seemed to be an eyeball with a pair of wings. Scales and scribbled notes filled in the edges of the page.

“Woah,” Dipper said, flipping a page. “This is really awesome! You really think Ford wrote this? You know, there was a 3 on the front, d’you think that means it’s number three? Like, there’s a series? Woah, what’s—OH MY GOSH!”

Mabel almost fell backwards off the log at Dipper’s sudden shout. “What?”

“I almost _forgot_!” Dipper stood up and started dashing back towards the Mystery Museum.

“Dipper! Forgot what!” Mabel shouted as she took off after her brother, Journal tucked under her arm. She caught up, grabbing at Dipper’s arm and throwing him off his trajectory. “Dipper, what’s going on?”

Dipper turned to face her, a blush creeping up onto his face. “Uh, i-it’s nothing.”

“Dipper, what’s going on?”

Dipper looked resolved not to tell her, but Mabel knew all her brother’s idiosyncrasies. She knew that if she pestered him long enough he wouldn’t be able to keep _anything_ in. Especially when he was excited, which he certainly seemed to be, bouncing on the soles of his feet as he stood still.

“Dip…”

And then it came out. “ImayormaynothavemetthisreallycutegirlandaskedheroutonadateandItoldhertocometotheMysteryMuseumandshe’sgonnabethereinlikefiveminutesandshe’sreallycute!” He snapped his mouth shut, his face red.

Mabel’s eyes widened. “Dipper, you got a date?!”

Dipper nodded so fast his hair flopped up for a moment, revealing his birthmark, before falling back down. “And I showed her my birthmark and she said it was the coolest thing she’d ever seen and I really think she was telling the truth but—”

“What are you waiting for?” Mabel interrupted, not waiting for him to finish his Dipper Dump-truck. “Let’s get back to the Museum! Mysteries can wait if you have a _date_!”

Dipper’s face split into a wide grin, and he turned and bolted through the forest, Mabel hot on his heels.


	4. Part Four

“So what’s your name?” Mabel asked the girl standing before her. It was the only thing she could think of to say.

Dipper’s date let out a high-pitched, tinkling laugh. “I’m—” she stopped. “N-normal…Norma! My name is Norma.”

“We met in this part in the forest where there was this really cool network of snake holes and I was looking down into them and when I looked up Norma was right there, looking into one of them too!” Dipper told his sister excitedly.

“I-I like snakes,” Norma said, not sounding too sure of herself.

“Cool,” Mabel said slowly, still staring. Norma certainly did _not_ look normal. Her skin was paler than Mabel had ever seen, and she wore a dress that made her look like she was floating over the floor. She glided as she moved like it, too. Even her hair seemed to move like it was waving in the wind. Plus her voice was unnaturally high. It set Mabel’s teeth on edge.

“Shall we go, Milady?” Dipper asked fancily, putting out his elbow for her to take his arm and doing a poor job of stifling his giggles.

“Ooh, such a gentleman,” Norma tittered, placing her hand on his arm daintily. Mabel was certainly proud of her brother, but she wasn’t sure she liked who this was shaping up.

Dipper led Norma out through the side door of the Mystery Museum, waving excitedly to Mabel over his shoulder before disappearing from view.

Mabel’s lingering smile faded quickly and she flopped onto the front room’s ratty old couch, pulling out the Journal from where she’d stuffed it under a cushion. “You’re just being paranoid, Mabel,” she murmured to herself as she flipped through the pages. “Norma isn’t some supernatural…” she paused, peered down at a page, and read aloud: “Known for their pale skin and shallow, vain personalities, these creatures are often mistaken for teenage girls. Beware Gravity Rises' nefarious...’” Mabel trailed off, staring at the depiction on the page. A woman stood on a giant snake tail trailing from a dress, and her hair was made out of _snakes_.

“A gorgon!” Mabel exclaimed out loud. It all made sense! Norma was somehow hiding her tail and her…head…snake…things, but they were still moving around and she was still gliding on that tail because it was just an illusion!

“Oh my gosh, Dipper!” Mabel shoved the Journal into the inside pocket of her jacket and jumping up for the door. She threw it open and was about to rush out when a hand grabbed onto her hood and jerked her back.

“Mabel, you’re not trying to follow your brother, are you?” Ford asked, folding his arms. Mabel couldn’t help but stare at the six fingers on his hand. If he wrote that Journal…

“Grunkle Ford, I—”

“Look, Mabel, I know it’s hard to let your brother show so much affection towards someone else, but—”

What? “N-no, that’s not it! I have to—” She stopped. Could she tell him? He did most likely write the Journal, after all. He knew about gorgons and probably how to stop them, but…

No. No, Ford had hidden that journal away in the forest for a reason, whatever that reason was. He would just take it from her.

“I-I was just going to…” To what? Finish hanging up the signs that Ford didn’t know where still sitting around in the forest?

“You were just going to go clean the grindylow tank,” Ford finished for her, turning her around and marching her back towards the Mystery Museum.

Mabel shrugged his grip off and went grudgingly to do as told. As she wiped off the side of the tank, she wondered for the first time if the small octopus-like creature inside really was a grindylow. She’d thought Grunkle Ford had just taken the name out of Harry Potter and tacked it on, but if there really were such thing as gorgons…

Gorgons. _Dipper!_

Mabel waited until Ford had left to get something from the back room and then dashed out of the Mystery Museum to find her brother.

~~~~~

“Snakes are really cool, but I especially love _spiders_ , you know? I make collections all the time and—hey, everything okay?”

Norma’s face had darkened at the mention of spiders. “O-oh, yeah, I’m fine,” she said in her high-pitched voice. “I just don’t like spiders. They’re horrible predators. My—” She stopped. “Never mind. Hey, wanna see my favorite tree in the whole forest?”

“Yes!” Dipper exclaimed. “Let’s go!”

“ _Dipper!_ ”

Dipper turned to see Mabel running towards him. “Dipper, wait!”

Dipper’s face turned red. “Mabel,” he muttered as she came close. “We’re kinda having a moment here.”

“Dipper I _have_ to talk to you for a second.” Mabel looked up at Norma. “Can I, uh, borrow my brother?”

“Mabel!”

“Sure,” Norma said, sounding confused.

Mabel pulled Dipper aside. “Look, Dip, I know you’ll think I’m crazy, but—”

“Mabel, what are you doing? This isn’t the time for conspiracy theories!”

“No, Dipper, listen!” Mabel pulled out the Journal from under her sweater. “I’m trying to tell you that Norma is not what she seems!”

Dipper frowned, and then gasped. “You think she might be a unicorn or something?” he said in his version of a strained whisper.

Mabel shushed him. “Think again. Look!” She opened her Journal.

Dipper blinked. “Fairies?”

Mabel looked down. “Oh, wait. I'm-I'm sorry...” She flipped through the Journal until she found the right page. “Here it is,” she said, pointing down at the picture of the gorgon.

“A gorgon?” Dipper asked. “That’s not funny, Mabel. C’mon, we’re in the middle of a…” he lowered his voice as he blushed. “ _Date_.”

“I’m not joking! Look, I know I just found this thing, but I really think Norma is hiding something! And since you guys met looking at snakes…Her hair moves! Have you noticed that?”

Dipper shrugged. “It’s windy.”

“Dipper, it says _Trust No One._ ” Mabel grabbed his shoulder as he tried to turn away.

“Well, what about me, huh? Why can’t you trust me?” Dipper demanded, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. “Look, Mabel, Norma and I are on a _date_. Maybe you can get all paranoid later, but I am not gonna let you ruin it with one of your crazy conspiracies!” He pushed her hand off of him. “See you back at the Museum.”

He trudged in the snow back over to Norma, glancing over his shoulder only once to make sure she had turned back towards the Mystery Museum.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Dipper said, linking her arm in his. “Mabel’s just paranoid.”

As he said it, though, he couldn’t help but notice the ends of Norma’s hair dancing in the wind.


	5. Part Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive criticism is welcome; however, these first episodes are over six months old, and won't be heavily edited anytime soon. Any criticism would likely be most effective if it was about my general writing style, rather than specific details :)

Mabel sat on the back porch of the Mystery Museum, swinging her legs and staring miserably into the snow. Dipper rarely snapped at her like that. She’d really blown it, hadn’t she? Grunkle Ford was right. Norma was just a normal girl who Mabel instantly disliked just because she was hanging around Mabel’s brother.

A gorgon. Honestly.

The sound of whistling pulled at Mabel’s attention, and she looked up to see Melody, cheerfully changing a lightbulb on the porch. “Hey Mabel,” she said when she noticed the girl’s gaze on her. “Didn’t wanna disturb your moping.”

“I-I wasn’t moping,” Mabel said defensively.

“Sure you were. But it’s fine. What’s eatin’ at ya?” Though they hadn’t been in Gravity Rises for long, Mabel had long since noticed Melody’s free-n-easy way of speaking that always lowered people’s defenses.

“I-it’s stupid.” Mabel looked away.

Melody stepped down from her stool and rested her hand on her tool belt. “Nothin’s stupid if you can’t get your mind off it. I heard your brother’s out on a date, is that what it is? I s’pose you two are really close, being twins and all.”

“Well, yeah, but, that’s not it. I-I think. I don’t know.” Mabel put her head in her hands. “There’s something suspicious about her; I really think there is. But Ford says it’s just jealousy and Dipper said to leave him alone, and now I feel crazy.”

“Is this a common occurrence?”

“What, being suspicious or feeling crazy? Kinda both, I guess.” Mabel shrugged. “I just…you can’t just trust everyone because they have a pretty smile. Who knows what’s behind that.”

Melody glanced back towards the Museum, looking like she had things to do, but then she shook her head as if reconsidering, and sat down next to Mabel on the porch. “Sounds like you’ve had some rough experiences with people not bein’ who they say they are, huh?”

Mabel shook her head. “No, not particularly. I just…see. Things behind people’s eyes, especially when they’re trying to hide it behind smiles. Dipper thinks the best about everybody, so he thinks I’m paranoid when I’m suspicious of somebody. And maybe I am, but…I really think something’s up with his new…girlfriend.” The word sounded so strange. “Something…” Could she tell her? Ford had all but confirmed the presence of the supernatural around here, and Melody _had_ lived here all her life. “Something supernatural.”

Melody gave a slow, knowing nod. “I get it. Hey, if you really think you’re not being jealous—”

“I’m not!” Mabel blurted. Her face reddened. “Sorry,” she muttered.

Melody inclined her head. “If you’re sure, and you have evidence of this girl being weird, then chances are she really is.”

“Evidence? I-I haven’t thought of that.”

“Now, that’s not permission to stalk your brother and his new girl, ya hear?” Melody said with a wink.

Mabel smiled shyly. “Acknowledged.”

“Hey, and unless you really think he’s in danger, let him have some fun, okay? You two have a great chance here to discover yourselves.” Melody leaned back on her hands and gazed out at the reddening sun. “Something about these woods changes you. Especially in the winter.”

The two of them sat in silence, watching the faint breeze rustle the pine branches.

“Well, I have some more repairs to do around the Museum,” Melody said, slowly getting to her feet. “Good luck, Mabel, and remember, sometimes…” She paused in the doorway. “Sometimes people might be hiding things for the right reason.”

~~~~~

“—And she showed me the _coolest_ tree. It was huge! You could climb up and up and dangle your legs over the sides and peer down at the snow from so high up and _gah_ it was amazing. And she seemed to be okay with letting me do all the talking, which, you know, I’m good at, and I felt kinda awkward because I always wonder if the person _wants_ to say something, they just can’t because I keep talking, but she really seemed interested in everything I had to say. She had the nicest smile, Mabel, like the one you use every so once in a while.” He grinned to show he was mostly joking, but it faded when he noticed she wasn’t looking up at him. “Mabel? You’re not mad at me for earlier, are you?”

Mabel shrugged, noncommittal. She knew that Dipper hated few things less than someone holding a grudge against him. “No, not really. I still think something’s up with Norma, though. Just…be careful?”

Dipper nodded slowly. “Okay. Just don’t go around accusing her of being a gorgon, okay?”

“Deal,” Mabel replied, smiling slightly. “Good night, Dipper.”

“G’night, Mabel.”


	6. Part Six

Three succinct knocks. “ _Pacifica, cameras in five!_ ”

Pacifica giggled to herself, running her mascara brush over her eyelashes one more time. Cameras in five. That phrase had become such a constant in her life. But, she couldn’t be rushed. She spritzed one last time at her hair and applied the finishing touches to her make-up, blinking with a slow sweep of her long eyelashes.

Showtime.

She stood up and smoothed her already-stiff skirt and made sure her pendant was secure, tied to the strings of her small black shrug. Even through her gloved fingers, she thought she could feel the smooth purple stone.

Three more knocks, this time loud and frustrated. “Pacifica! They’re waiting!”

Of course they were. They always were.

She threw open her trailer door and a hit a dramatic pose, one hand resting daintily on her cheek as she winked out at her audience. Reporters weren’t as susceptible as her regular audiences, of course, but—

What. Was this.

Two measly reporters stood looking up at her, one carrying a microphone with a cameraman behind her. The other was short, fat, ugly, and didn’t even have a microphone. What was that, a kitchen whisk?

“Here she is, folks, Pacifica Pleasure, come to stay in our very own town of Gravity Rises!”

Pacifica covered up her disappointment quickly, flashing a huge smile for the cameras.

Ahem. Camera. Singular.

Stupid backwoods town.

“After travelling the country, this child psychic is finally coming home to her parents, local used-car salesman Bud Pleasure, and his wife, Catherine. Pacifica, how do you feel to be home?”

Home? This rat-infested town would _never_ be her home. Pacifica giggled. “Oh, I’m just so happy to be back in the simple life!” She laid on her Southern accent. It was her favorite for dealing with low-lives like these. “Of course, I’ll be setting up my Tent o’ Telepathy here in town. We sure can’t wait to see all you lovely townsfolk come on down!” She shot a glossy, purple-eyed wink at the camera.

Tent o’ Telepathy. Ha. If they only _knew_ what she could really do.

“There you have it, folks! Pacifica Pleasure, back in Gravity Rises. I’m Shandra Jimenez, and this is Gravity Rises News.”

The camera turned off, and Pacifica dropped her pleasant demeanor in less time than it took to wink. “Is this really where we’re setting up?” She demanded of her agent, standing off to the side. “There’s no way I’m trudging through all this snow.”

“Having it back in the woods gives it an air of mystery,” he replied. “We’ll clear a path for you, my dear.”

“That’s right,” Pacifica replied.

“Pacifica, darling, your parents are here!”

Pacifica turned, the triangles dangling from her skirt chiming as they bumped into one another. There was her father, waving as he emerged from the trees, her mother by his side.

“Pacifica! My darling girl!” Bud spread his hands out to welcome his daughter into a hug. Pacifica couldn’t help but think she’d bounce right off that stomach of his before he could put his arms around her.

“Careful, Daddy, I’m all dressed up,” she said, letting him touch her anyway. As he enveloped her in Bud Bear-Hug (she didn’t bounce off of him), she felt a careful hand start to stroke her hair. That would be her mother.

Three seconds. Three seconds she would endure this, and then—

“Mama, Papa,” Pacifica said, pulling away from them but keeping a smile on, grasping her mother’s arm in one hand and her father’s in the other. “It’s so good to see you. Do you want to help set up the Tent?”

“That sounds great!” Bud replied in his loud, boisterous voice. Honestly, he had no tact.

“Sure, Sweetheart,” Catherine said in a small voice. “Do you want to show us your trailer?”

Pacifica waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, that little thing? It’s too small for a proper tour. Once we give the Tent up, though, that’ll be something to show you! While you help with that, I have to go see my make-up artist about some new ideas, though. He just recently started letting me do it myself,” she added with a giggle. “And so he likes to try to change it every once in a while so I’ll need him again. I’ll see you in a moment!” Waving them off, she flounced away, circling around her trailer and out of sight.

Phew.

She loved her parents and all, but they could be so stifling. And it wasn’t like she’d been so long since she’d seen them. They’d flown down to see her just a few months ago.  

Pacifica closed her eyes and gave herself a moment to enjoy the quiet. She really _did_ need to go see her make-up artist, but—

A scream cut through the forest.

Pacifica’s eyes snapped open. What was that?

She peered around her trailer. Nobody else seemed to have heard; they were all absorbed in setting up the Tent.

“ _Mabel! Mabel, help!_ ”

“ _I’m coming, Dipper!_ ”

Though the calls were faint, Pacifica could tell they were being shouted at the tops of lungs. What was going on in there? She looked down at the snow in distaste. She needed to get closer, but she didn’t want to ruin her boots. They were heels, too.

Glancing around again to make sure no one was watching, Pacifica decided to indulge a bit. Her purple amulet situated atop her clavicle started to glow, and the glow promptly spread all around Pacifica’s body. She felt herself lift into the air until her astral projection formed, small, since she only needed to get through the forest without getting snow on her shoes. She floated in the middle of a slightly larger version of herself that moved along with her, carrying her safely through the forest.

Now where _were_ those screams coming from?


	7. Part Seven

“I told you! I told you not to trust—gah! Get off me!”

The fairy hissed as Mabel batted it away, and five more surged towards her. She’d almost rather Norma had turned out to be a gorgon. But no, she had to be hundreds of fairies who for no apparent reason had an agenda against Mabel and her twin.

Figures.

“You told me not to trust her, but you have to admit you were wrong, at least partly. I mean, at first glance I thought a bunch of fairies was much better than a gorgon! Ooh, you okay? That looked like it hurt. What did you do to aggravate them, anyway?”

“I came to rescue _you!_ ” Mabel said through gritted teeth, pushing through the swarm of fairies towards her brother. He was strapped to a tree with a thick network of what appeared to be spider webs, not looking particularly worried for himself, although he winced whenever a fairy got a good bite out of Mabel.

They had sharp teeth.

“Yeah, what did I do, anyway, Norma?” Dipper asked, addressing all the vengeful fairies as if they were still one holographic human girl.

“You don’t even remember?” One of them hissed, pulling on his ear. “You don’t even have the decency to remember what you stole from us?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never been to this part of the woods. It’s really nice, though. At least, it would be if I could actually go explore and I wasn’t—hey! Hands off my sister!” There were so many fairies that Mabel was nearly lifted off the ground as she moved.

“I told you it wasn’t him,” another fairy chirped. “The boy I saw had white hair.”

“But they have the book!” The first fairy snapped.

Mabel paused in her thrashing, allowing even more fairies to grab ahold of her. “T-the book?”

A squadron of fairies dove for the inside of Mabel’s jacket, pulling out the Journal. “Hey! That’s mine!”

The fairies struggled to keep the Journal aloft, but they held it up for what seemed to be the lead fairy. “That’s the one!” She proclaimed. “The book we saw the same day our Prize was stolen!”

“We didn’t steal anything!” Mabel protested. “I just found this book yesterday, I swear. Please, we haven’t done anything to hurt you! I-I didn’t even know there were fairies here until today!”

The forest fell silent save the beating of hundreds of tiny wings.

“She must be lying,” the lead fairy hissed.

“She’s not!” Dipper chimed in. “She had just found that Journal in the woods when you and I had our first date yesterday. But why would you think I had stolen your Prize thingy if you met me before Mabel even found the Journal?”

“We were just scouting around for information,” a fairy replied, “but then we saw that book when—”

“Quiet, Lydia!” The lead fairy snapped. “Human girl, you say you know nothing of the great theft that took place a few days ago?”

“N-no, I don’t know anything,” Mabel insisted.

“What is there to steal from fairies, anyway?” Dipper asked.

Wrong question.

“We guard some of the most precious artifacts and secrets in this forest, _boy_.” The lead fairy shook her head. “I suppose you really don’t know anything about the theft, do you? Release them!”

Mabel’s feet found solid ground again as the fairies holding her let go and flew towards Dipper to undo his bindings. As he was freed, the lead fairy flew up to Mabel.

“You haven’t seen another book like this, or a white-haired boy with it?”

Mabel shook her head. “We’ve only been in town for a few days, and then I found the Journal yesterday. I-I’m really sorry something was stolen for you. Do you need help getting it back?” She was surprised at her own offer, seeing the fairies had just attacked her and her brother, but she could see the desperate look in their eyes. Whatever was stolen was very, very important to them.

The fairy considered, then shook her head. She really was beautiful. “Thank you for the offer, human, but the more we keep to ourselves, the better.”

Mabel nodded. “Well, good luck.”

Dipper ran over to his sister, freed from his spider web bonds. “Hey,” he said, turning to address the fairies. “You can apologize, you know. Just say, ‘hey, sorry, Dipper, for pretending to be your girlfriend and then tying you up to a tree and attacking your sister.’ And I won’t hold a grudge; it’ll all be good.”

Mabel covered a smile with her hand. From anyone else, a comment like that might’ve been sarcastic, but Dipper sincerely meant it. All he wanted was an apology and he’d be over it.

Mabel wished she could be that forgiving sometimes.

“We’re sorry,” Lydia said. “It was just a misunderstanding. No hard feelings, right?”

“Right,” Mabel said. Right? This was kinda weird. Attacking one moment, unsure the next, friendly and apologizing after that. Maybe fairies had more vacillating moods than humans?

Dipper didn’t seem to find it strange. “C’mon, Mabel, let’s go tell Robbie and Melody what happened! I bet they’re never heard such a cool story!” Dipper started bounding off through the snow back towards the Mystery Museum. Mabel turned to follow.

“Human,” the lead fairy called.

Mabel looked over her shoulder.

“I can see that adventurous look in your eye, and I feel I need to warn you. This forest is teeming with all sorts of magical life, but stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong, and there will be consequences. We fairies see it all the time, and humans don’t seem to learn from the tragedies of others. So listen to me now when I say to be careful here in Gravity Rises.”

“Thanks,” Mabel replied. She took a Memory of the fairies all hovering there, wings beating so fast they were just a shimmering blur, all of them facing her. Then she followed after her brother, walking far slower than he to let herself fully absorb the lead fairy’s words.

Dipper was standing on the porch waiting for her when she arrived. Well, more like bouncing up and down to keep warm on the porch. “Why didn’t you just go inside, silly?” Mabel asked, smiling. “I told you not to wear shorts in the middle of the winter.”

“I read once that girls get cold easier than boys,” Dipper replied. “I’m fine. Besides, I wanted an Awkward Sibling Hug before we went in.”

Mabel rolled her eyes, but the smile was still on her face. Whenever they did something particularly awesome together, Dipper called for an Awkward Sibling Hug. And she didn’t mind them—though they were correctly named.

“Alright. Awkward Sibling Hug.” Mabel ascended the porch steps and pulled her brother into a short hug. They both patted each other stiffly on the back, saying, “Pat, pat,” as they did it, a little quirk Dipper had come up with a couple years ago.

“Sorry for not believing you,” Dipper said as they pulled apart.

“It’s fine,” Mabel replied. “You’re right that I’m paranoid sometimes, even if I am right. I shouldn’t have been so quick to distrust Norma, even if, you know, she did attack us.”

“Well, if I automatically trust people all the time, and you automatically distrust people all the time, I guess we have a good mix!”

Mabel laughed. “I guess so. C’mon, Doofus, let’s go inside. I’m freezing.”

“I’m not!”

The two hurried in, the door hardly closed when Dipper was calling out for Robbie and Melody to come here about the _awesome_ adventure they just had.

 

~~~End of Episode One~~~


End file.
